Zhang Ziyi wins her first Golden Horse Best Actress Award

The 50th Golden Horse Awards took place at the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taiwan on the 23rd November. Zhang Ziyi‘s performance in The Grandmaster won her her first Golden Horse Best Actress. With 11 nominations The Grandmaster was the big winner with five awards. Alhough director Wong Kar-wai lost both Best Director and Best Feature Film to Stray Dogs and Ilo Ilo, The Grandmaster was deeply popular with the audience as it won the viewers’ choice award.

The three Best Actor favourites, Hong Kong representatives The Grandmaster‘s Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Unbeatable‘s Nick Cheung and Cold War‘s Tony Leung Ka-fai, lost to Stray Dog‘s Lee Kang-Sheng. Leung stood up and shook hands with the newcomer; however, when the event arranged for past Best Actors and Best Actresses for a group photo, he was pouting and looked unhappy. Singapore film Ilo Ilo won four awards, including Best Feature Film, Best New Director, Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay. Its performance was second only to The Grandmaster.

The 34-year-old Zhang Ziyi won her first Golden Horse Best Actress after 15 years in the business with The Grandmaster‘s Gong Er. When Zhang Ziyi received the award from Maggie Cheung and Andy Lau, she was teary eyed and choking back her tears. She said, “I have been nominated several times for the Golden Horse, today I finally got it. Thank you to the Director Ang Lee led jury, making me the Best Actress on the Golden Horse’s 50th birthday. Making The Grandmaster was long and tough, but the process was happy. Thank you to on and off screen grand masters, without them I wouldn’t be here. Thank you Leung Chiu-wai, he will always be the Best Actor in my heart. Thank you Wong Kar-wai. When my heart was suffering the most I ran into Gong Er, telling me to believe in myself. I did it. Today Mama is here too, last month was my birthday and this award is the best birthday present. Yesterday I got a call from Papa, he is sick. I hope this award will make him recover soon.”